Page 79 of Wired Justice

Chapter Fifty

Sophie staredinto Akane Chang’s brutal brown eyes.

The man had brought her out to this remote location to kill her and dispose of her and the driver’s body. He had already shown his willingness and ability to ruthlessly end any life, even that of an innocent animal. She might as well give it all she had, and get it over with.

Sophie drew herself up into a squat, ignoring the wound in her back, and launched herself at Chang as he opened the van’s side door.

The man was ready and scrambled out of the van ahead of her, spinning to press the silencer to the tender skin of her forehead.

Sophie stopped. Breathed. She was seconds from death. She shut her eyes and waited for it.

Chang stepped back, and gestured with the weapon. “Get out. Up against the van. Put your hands on the vehicle.”

“I fail to see why I should follow your directions,” Sophie said. “You’re just going to kill me.”

“Our fates are never written in stone,” Chang said conversationally. “Which is what makes all of this entertaining. Like your little friend Julie Weathersby. She got away, and you’re a hell of a lot tougher than she is. So, what’s it going to be? Die now, or maybe die later?”

Sophie weighed her options, looking into the black eye of the pistol’s silencer.

To live a little longer was always better.If she went for him now, she was a dead woman. “Where there’s life, there’s hope,” Marcella’s voice said in her head.

Sophie raised her hands slowly and climbed out of the van. She turned to face the vehicle.

She felt Chang approach, and kicked back viciously with her left leg, glad that she was wearing sturdy running shoes.

Chang yelped as his leg buckled. He hit her with the pistol on the back of the head. Stars exploded in Sophie’s vision, and she staggered forward, falling against the side of the van.

Chang grabbed her and flung her to the ground, dropping to put a knee in her back. He cackled like a demented television villain as he wrenched her arms up and zip tied them behind her back.

Her chances of a slow death versus a fast one had just increased exponentially.